Children soldiers - "time bomb": They brainwash them, then send them to the front

None of the conflicting parties shy away from that practice, but a far larger number of children are still being recruited by Houthi people, writes DW.
Samir was eventually killed. The 15-year-old paid with his life for the desire to fight on the side of the Houthis in the civil war that is being fought in Yemen.
Previously, in several summer camps, he was explained what the worldview of the rebels was, listened to what religious teachers were saying, heard their theses about "jihad" and the fight to protect the homeland. Samir was delighted with that. He was told that God had allowed him to fight against the Yemeni government. That pushed him to the front, to fight there.
Samir's father, who wishes to remain anonymous, told DW that he and his wife agreed for their son to go to summer camp. But when Samir stated that he wanted to go to the front, his parents refused. The son, however, was impossible to stop.
In the end, the parents relented - among other things because Samir regularly sent money earned to his poor family. In addition, he came home every few months.
And then the shocking news: Samir was killed. The Houthis handed over the body of their son to the parents, and on his forehead was a ribbon with the inscription "Martyrs".
Samir is not the only child from the Sana settlement who died at the front. Three other boys, Imad, Yousef and Muhammad, aged between 15 and 16, also did not survive the fighting. They were killed in a bomb attack, and their remains were handed over to their families.

The rebels recruit the most

Recruiting child soldiers is one of the worst forms of human rights violations in the civil war in Yemen. In a document released in late June, the United Nations recorded 163 such cases: 134...

Continue reading on: